Yeah, we're getting married!

The universe clearly wanted us to meet. In April 2018, Nick read Peter's CoffeeMeetsBagel profile, only to swipe left. A few days later though, the app insisted that Nick should reconsider--Peter's profile showed up again. Nick gave it a shot. Little did he know that his life would be changed forever. :) Peter was enjoying his time off and was travelling. He had a one-day stop on May 1st, 2018 in San Francisco before his next trip. Typically that would mean lots of chores and no time for meeting people. Well...the universe told him that this time might be different. On May 1st, 2018, Peter and Nick met at Lemonade at the Metreon. To win his heart, Peter brought a box of Beard Papa's cream puffs as a birthday gift to Nick since Nick had just celebrated his 30th birthday a week earlier. Obviously, the plan worked because Nick can't turn down a Beard Papa's cream puff.

As a consultant, Peter did extensive primary and secondary research on how to do it right. He read several books on relationships, interviewed 50+ people about their proposal stories, watched dozens of YouTube videos, and did a fair amount of googling. To begin with, according to evidence-based relationship science, the first two years are typically the "honeymoon" period followed by the 3rd year of sobering when a couple typically takes off their rosy glasses. Peter decided that clearly, the proposal should be in the fourth year after they can accept each other for who they truly are. Secondly, proposal stories fall on the spectrum from 1-on-1/intimate to public/in front of friends and family. The universe again helped with the right format. Back in January 2021, Nick out of the blue suggested going to Napa for several days. Peter was suspicious because Nick dropped several jokes about how it was like to be a married couple and insisted several times that Peter get a nice haircut and bring a nice shirt for the trip. "OMG, he is going to propose!" was what was going through Peter's mind. Once in Napa, Nick took Peter to one of the best restaurants in the area. Peter was sweating in anticipation and was expecting Nick to get on one knee to propose in front of all of these strangers. Fast forward, it was a false alarm, but Peter learned...no public proposals. :) Thirdly, the ring. Nick is picky and ring design should be perfect. Peter asked Nick's friend who works in fashion to stage a conversation and ask Nick for advice on engagement rings for a fake client. Not suspecting anything, Nick looked through dozens of rings and chose the only one from Piaget. Later, Peter would realize that Piaget only has stores in LA and NYC, so the ring needed to be ordered by mail. Nick almost ruined the surprise because he accepted the suspicious package from the FedEx guy. Finally, an epic proposal. Nick and Peter went on vacation to Big Sur for Nick's 33rd birthday. Peter made a video with his Nick's friends' birthday wishes. While Nick was watching the video, Peter was standing behind him holding the ring and getting ready to propose. In the video, Nick's friends' final message was "Peter has something to add--turn around!" The rest is history.